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NFL Picks

NFL Picks: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Profile 2015

The Buccaneers finished with the worst record in the NFL last year, but the silver lining is that netted them a franchise quarterback in Jameis Winston with the first pick of the draft.

The 2015 NFL regular season begins Thursday night, September 10th, but before we get to Kickoff Weekend, we will be here daily presenting team profiles in an attempt to assist you with your NFL picks in advance the regular season. Today we are profiling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who finished 2-14 in 2014 and in fourth place in the NFC South.

We begin with a summary of the Tampa Bay betting statistics over the past five seasons. Please note all of these statistics are for regular season games only.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Betting Stats, 2010 through 2014

Home

Away

Overall

ATS Overall

13-25-2

22-17-1

35-42-3

ATS Favorite

6-11-1

1-3

7-14-1

ATS Underdog

6-14-1

21-14-1

27-28-2

Avg. Margin

-3.8

-6.8

-5.3

Over – Under

18-21-1

20-20

38-41-1

Avg. Total Score

43.0

46.8

44.9

How field advantage? What home field advantage? The Buccaneers have been one of the worst home bets in the NFL over the last five years going a mere 34.2 percent ATS in their own stadium! And it has not much mattered whether they have been home favorites (35.3 percent ATS) or home underdogs (30.0 percent ATS). On the flips side, Tampa Bay has been a surprisingly good bet as a road underdog at 60.0 percent ATS.Key Trend: Tampa Bay is 4-16-1, 20.0 percent ATS at home when coming off of an ‘under’.

Now we take a look at the Buccaneers’ statistical summary for the 2014 season.

2014 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Statistics (Per Game)

Offense

Off. Rank

Defense

Def. Rank

Points

17.3

29th

25.6

25th

Rushing

85.9

29th

113.2

17th

Yds. Per Rush

3.9

24th

3.9

7th

Passing

206.1

26th

255.6

26th

Yds Per Pass

6.2

29th

7.3

25th

Total Yards

292.0

30th

368.8

24th

Yds. Per Play

5.3

27th

5.7

23rd

The Buccaneers finished with the worst record in the NFL last year, actually tying the Tennessee Titans for that honor but “winning” the tiebreaker by losing to the New Orleans Saints on the final day of the regular season. But hey, the good news for Tampa Bay is that final loss netted the Bucs a franchise quarterback in Jameis Winston with the first overall pick of the NFL Draft.

The weak NFC South is a division where three of the four teams are currently priced at less than +300 basically across the board to win it. Unfortunately, the Buccaneers are the fourth team. The silver lining is that sportsbooks are looking for Tampa Bay to triple its two wins for all for of last year, with this season’s win total set at exactly 6 with either the ‘over’ or the ‘under’ being juiced depending on where you look.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Key Additions
The Buccaneers tried to upgrade their defense this off-season with some veteran additions in defensive end George Johnson, defensive tackle Henry Melton, linebackers Bruce Carter and Larry Dean, cornerback Sterling Moore and safety Chris Conte. However, Tampa Bay used the draft route to try and upgrade the offense, not only with quarterback Jameis Winston, but also with two offensive linemen in Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet, filling an area of dire need.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Key Losses
The bad news is that Tampa Bay lost quarterback Josh McCown and offensive tackles Anthony Collins and Oniel Cousins, although the good news is that the team went younger by trying to fix those holes with the first three draft picks. On defense, the Bucs lost defensive end Michael Johnson, linebackers Mason Foster and Dane Fletcher and safety Dashon Goldson.